THE PRESIDENCY: Great Day

Early
one morning last week whistles began to blow, bells to ring in the city
of Manila. In Washington a few minutes before (noon of the day before)
President Roosevelt, beaming his best smile, exclaimed: "This is a
great day for you and for me!'' The gentlemen he was addressing were
two Filipinos, Senators Manuel Quezon and Elpidio Quirino, who had just
watched him sign the McDuffie-Tydings bill offering to make the
Philippines a Commonwealth for ten years, to grant them independence
thereafter. Everybody beamed but no one was genuinely elated. The...